The Real Social Experiment
by HopeDaDope
Summary: Maybe Dr. Micah Barnes will finally get out of his own way and make Emily see him the way she should. Inspired by EmicahBrucasChairAddekDelena 's story, Emily's bookcase.
1. Chapter 1

Emily caught another creepy wink from Dr. Putnam and found herself smacking herself on the forehead. As if she just needed the warning from Will. Hah!

_I'm going to kill Tyra. Why on Earth would she tell me to hit on Dr. Putnam? Why would I listen? Ugh._

__Will hadn't seemed to even take it seriously, so it was all for nothing. Not even the smallest trace of the little green monster, Jealousy.

Emily was so distracted by her own problems that she didn't even notice when Dr. Barnes came to stand next to her.

"Hey, what's up with you? You look mildly disgusted." Dr. Barnes said beside of Emily, startling her a little as they both made their way towards the elevator. He was probably going to see his mother, while she was trying to get to her cystic fibrosis patient. Well, now he would be a cancer patient.

"Only mildly? My poker face has definitely improved." she said exasperatedly.

"What's up?" he asked looking at her sideways, curious about her discomfort.

"I hit on Putnam."

Micah laughed. "Why, Dr. Owens, I had no idea that was your ideal type."

"Shut up," she groaned. "You know he isn't."

"Well, hitting on him would suggest otherwise. Especially to someone with his ego." She was really mad that he was still smiling at her misfortune.

"I know. When I tried to take it back he told me to 'prepare to be caught'."

"He said that? Ha! But why would you hit on him? You don't seem like you're drunk."

"Haha. You are hilarious. No I did it because I..." she started, but broke off, suddenly embarassed. Saying that you flirted with someone just to make a guy jealous seemed really juvenile now that she thought about it. She walked quickly into the elevator and pressed the button to the top floor. She had a few minutes, she might as well go to the roof to hide.

"Because you? You're embarrassed this has to be good. Did you alter ego who is secretly very attracted to Putnam come out? Evil twin?" Micah asked, his dark eyes still bright with laughter.

"I wanted to see if it would make Will jealous." Emily was too busy looking the other way to notice the sour look that crossed Dr. Barnes face, and by the time she looked back it was gone.

"Well, you're in quite the pickle, aren't you Dr. Owens? Remember, if Putnam comes after you again, just use that 'just say no' technique." he said sarcastically as he stepped off the elevator.

...

"Hey Mom," Micah smiled as he entered his mother's room.

"'Sup?" she answered, smiling.

"'Sup? Mom, how many brownies have you had?"

"'Nuff." she answered sleepily, smiling at her son.

"You seem tired, I'll come back later."

"No, no, I want to talk some. I'll sleep better for it." she smiled affectionately. "So are you single yet? You were dating some Kelly girl, have you broken up with her yet?"

Well, when she phrases it like that he didn't want to admit that he had broken things off with Kelly. "What makes you say that? I happened to like Kelly very much."

"Happened? Past tense. Good. Oh, and it's just that it is plain that you like Emily Owens so much. I like her too. That's the next thing I wanted to ask you about. When are you going to finally ask her out?"

"High you is very honest. And blunt and abrupt. I'm pretty sure I don't like it."

"Don't pout. Don't change the subject either."

"Listen, Mother, even if I wanted to, Emily isn't interested. I'm pretty sure that she has never thought of me like that and that is due mainly to the fact that she's obsessed with her best friend." The words themselves sounded harsh, but he gave her an affectionate nudge to let her know he wasn't really upset.

"Well, then do something that makes her think of you like that. Find an excuse to take your shirt off."

"Oh my gosh, I'm leaving. If you could sleep the drugs off, that would be great." he said, dropping the obligatory kiss on her head. He walked out, shaking his head.

...

"Long shift, huh?" Dr. Barnes asked looking up from some paperwork as Emily walked up to the nurses station. It had taken some effort but he had finally shaken off the crazy stuff his mom had said.

"Yup," she answered, still thinking about all of her patients.

"Any plans tonight?" he asked to make polite conversation.

"Yeah, exciting ones. I'm putting together a bookcase." she said as she pulled a mock-excited face. "How about you? You going to hang out with Kelly?"

"We, uh, actually broke up." he answered, a little bit uncomfortable.

"Why?" Emily asked, alarmed. She had liked Kelly.

"We just wanted different things." _Like, for example, you._

__Emily turned to walk away to talk to Dr. Bandari, but she turned back to Micah. "Hey, listen, I might just need some help with that especially tricky bookcase. If you need someone to talk to, y'know. I can be an especially good therapist, and break-ups just happen to be my forte. Are you up for that?"

"I don't know-"

"Wait let me throw pizza and a movie into the pot. Don't worry, I'm not hitting on you. And I promise I won't take advantage of your vulnerability."

"My vulnerability?" he laughed. "Fine. I could use some friendly company. Where do you live again? I haven't been there since your birthday."

"You can just ride with me. I just need to go change."

"Cool, I just need to finish this paperwork, but then I'll be right there."

Emily smiled and made her way to the changing room. She had just finished changing and closed her locker, when out of nowhere, there was Dr. Putnam smiling that creepy, predatory smile.

"Hi," he smiled. "Let's grab a drink."

"Oh, I can't. I have to put together this bookcase."

"Ooh, I'll help." he said, clearly more pleased with the prospect of going straight to her place.

At that moment, Dr. Barnes walked in just as Will said, "Y'know I already said I would help her, so..."

Micah saw Emily look up at him, surprised that he had spoken up so quickly, and it bothered him that he immediately felt jealous.

"That's weird, because Emily asked me too." Micah said as Dr. Putnam backed off and left, saying something about 'another time.'

"Really?" Will asked looking at Emily, blatantly shocked.

"Well, yeah," Emily answered clearly torn by Will's reaction.

"Oh, okay. Have fun with Dr. Barnes." he said uncertainly as he closed his locker.

Micah rolled his eyes. Really? How great could this guy be?

In the next minute, Micah had no intention of doing what he did, and even after he did it, he still didn't know how it happened. But looking at Emily's adoring gaze directed at someone else, something in his brain, probably the common sense part, shut off.

Regardless, it didn't change the fact that he had grabbed Emily by the wrist yanked her over to him, grabbed her face in both of his hands and kissed her in front of Will and Tyra, the only two people left in the room. Tyra gasped, and he could hear Will's bag thunk as it hit the floor.

"Tyra, Dr. Collins. Let's go, Emily." Micah smiled charmingly as he led her, gaping, out of the room, very effectively hiding his own shock. _That was a whole new kind of dumb, Micah. _

"Uh, Micah. What...What exactly just happened?" Emily asked as soon as she overcame the shock. Which actually took until they reached the parking lot.

"You said you wanted to know if he was jealous. I'm just giving you that opportunity. I mean I kiss you, and then we go back to your apartment? If that won't make him jealous, nothing will." he answered, playing it off like it was nothing. It was totally something, though. It was a big, fat something.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily was still reeling from the shock of what happened back at the hospital. She kept calling it a kiss in her head, but it felt wrong. She still wasn't entirely sure it had happened.

_But if it had happened, it was definitely pleasant. And very very memorable..._ _But Micah said it was just to help me make Will jealous. That doesn't seem like the type of thing he'd do. But neither does him kissing me._

She had also thought that things would be very weird between them, but here he was following her into her apartment to build that bookcase, acting like nothing had happened.

"So, Micah," she began slowly, as he took of his coat and tossed it over the couch. "You're still going to build that bookcase?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

_'Cuz you kissed me? In public?_

"I don't know." she mumbled, conflicted. She looked down at her phone which kept buzzing periodically. There were already like twenty text messages-fifteen from Tyra and five from Will. Well, it wouldn't do her any good to try to talk to them when she had no idea what was going on, so she would just turn off her phone after she called in the food.

"So, I see the box. Now I want to know where is the pizza and movie I was promised." he smiled and sat down in front of the box.

Emily just shook her head. Micah Barnes had just fried her brain, and he seemed to not care a drop. "Well, my extensive movie collection is over there, so you pick something out while I call in some delivery. What do you like on a pizza?"

"Anything except olives, thanks!" he called over his shoulder as he got up from his spot to pick a movie while she moved into another room to make the call.

"Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Seriously?" Micah asked teasingly as Emily reentered the room.

"Say what you will, but whoever plays Kostas is a fine looking man."

Micah just laughed and shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't watched most of these movies. What do you recommend?"

"Honestly, I haven't watched a lot of them either. I don't have a lot of free time, and most of those are gifts from family and friends. I'm just not a huge movie person." she shrugged as she came over and stood next to him in front of the small cabinet that was holding her small movie collection.

He looked up at her and smiled as he held up a random case. "This movie I have seen and I loved it." For the first time since she had met Dr. Barnes, she wasn't listening to what he said. She was thinking about that kiss and the way it felt. Emily shook her head and made herself focus.

"We can watch that sure," she smiled and looked down at the movie for the first time. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail?"

"Yes, it's hilarious and I can't believe you've never seen it. I mean, you own the DVD."

"Well, I guess I get to watch it tonight." she shrugged and he smiled. Why had she never noticed that awesome smile?

_I don't think I can take this anymore, it's driving me crazy. I need to know why and I need to know why now._

"Micah, why did you kiss me?"

"I told you already. You said you needed help making Will jealous. I helped." he answered abruptly as he sat down in front of the box, all the while mentally yelling at himself for everything he had done in the past hour, especially still coming over to Emily's house. That had just been stupid.

Emily wasn't convinced and Micah knew it.

"I'm so sorry, Micah. I'll be right back, I just remembered that I don't have anything to drink. You get started, though and if the pizza guy comes, there's a twenty on the fridge underneath the magnet." Emily said as she put her coat on. She was glad she remembered, because at that moment, she was feeling like some space would be good. Space would definitely good. Maybe she over-thought some things, but this didn't seem like one of those times.

...

Micah ran his hands through his hair, trying to come up with a way to play this off like it was nothing. Emily wasn't buying it and it was driving him crazy. Really, at this point he should just ask her out and get everything out there, but he genuinely liked this girl. He didn't want to just be a reason to make another guy jealous. He didn't want her to date him just so she could find out if she could over her best friend. How lame would that be? After all, he still had his pride.

By the time Emily got back, he was halfway through with the bookcase and had decided to just tell Emily how he felt. His mom was going to love this when she inevitably would find out.

"Hey, it's looking great!" Emily smiled as she put the drinks into her refrigerator. "Thanks again for this. I acted like I was going to do something nice for you, but really you're just here to build my bookcase."

"Yeah, you totally tricked me. Pizza isn't even here yet. And what's the point in me starting a movie that I've seen and you haven't when you're not even here?"

"Sorry, I'm here now. Let's watch it. I can even help with the rest of the bookcase."

"Yeah, sure, but first, I need to tell you something." Micah looked over at her and she smiled. "I realize that I owe you a real explanation for what happened-" he started as she sat down on the floor next to him.

"No, actually, I think I figured it out. And don't worry about it, people do crazy things after they've gone through a break up." Emily interrupted.

"What?"

"I'm sure what happened was just because of breaking up with Kelly."

Does she know that that doesn't make any sense?

"But-"

"Don't worry, I totally get it. Kelly was great, and it'll take some time to get over her. Now, if this movie is terrible, I'm going to blame you, Dr. Barnes."

...

Emily was glad she had figured it out, even though, for some odd reason she was disappointed. She was definitely not interested in Micah like that, but then again, she had never given it much thought. She had only ever thought about Will.

Micah had let it go, which Emily assumed meant that she had been right, but something about him seemed...frustrated. She had been afraid of awkward silences, but having a movie playing eliminates that, and really the movie was pretty hilarious, so it _almost _completely covered the awkward feeling.

They ate the pizza, made the bookcase, and as soon as the movie was over, Micah got up to leave.

"Thanks again, Micah. I really do appreciate the help."

"Especially when I did it all anyways," he smiled, but it felt distant. They had just gotten over the 'let's just be professional' thing. She really didn't want him to go back to cold Dr. Barnes when she knew how nice he really was.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," she said watching him put on his coat.

"Sure. Good night Dr. Owens." he said. Almost as an afterthought, he turned back around and dropped a peck on her cheek. A completely platonic peck on the cheek that made her heart skip and her face turn red. She touched the spot on her face as she closed her door.

_What's wrong with me? People give each other kisses on the cheek all the time! It's just a way to say goodbye. Will has even kissed me on the cheek before, and you didn't think anything of it. Why is this so different? Micah is just a friend, too. Right?_

Eventually, Emily managed to talk herself into believing that it was nothing and her reaction was simply because it caught her by surprise and nothing more. She was about to go to bed when she looked again at the assembled bookcase. Will would have done the exact same thing for her if she had asked, but it wouldn't have left her so confused and she knew it. What was it about Micah Barnes?

* * *

**Hey guys, I just wanted to thank everyone for the awesome feedback! It means so much!**

**I'm going to try to update when I can, but it may be a bit of a process, so I hope that you will all bear with me. I know that my writing is a little rough, but I'll try to get better as I go so that the flow and detail is better. I would also like to apologize for a lack of medical knowledge on my part, so if you get a little bit of ambiguity, I'm sorry. Also, I'm going to deviate from the show's plot to introduce new things, but that's the point of a fanfiction, right?**

**I want to stay true to what I feel are the characters' essences, but we all have a little bit of a different interpretation on that, so I hope that you will have patience with me.**

**Keep reading, and let me know what you think! =D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry if the updates become infrequent! It's just that my stupid English teacher likes to give absurd amounts of homework. But if you all keep reading, I'll keep writing!**

* * *

Emily went into work still a little troubled, but she had almost made herself put it out of her head. Dr. Barnes was her friend. Just her friend. Nothing more, nothing less.

Or at least, she almost had herself convinced until Tyra showed up.

"Emily! Talk. Now!" she ordered once she had her cornered in front of the hospital.

"What?" Emily asked, even though she knew very well. She just didn't know what it was _exactly_ that Tyra wanted to know.

"Are you kidding me? Dr. Barnes! What happened there? What is going to happen? Are you guys together, or did he lose a bet, or what happened? I'm dying here!"

"Your first guess is that he lost a bet? Really?" Emily asked, but Tyra just shrugged. "Well, I told Micah that I had tried to make Will jealous and it backfired, so he kissed me to help me see if Will would get jealous. He was probably just sick of all my drama and wanted to speed it up." _I think. There was also a fresh break-up to deal with, and I bet that was a factor._

"Yeah right, our resident is into you and it freaks you out so you don't want to admit it."

"Listen, I know Micah, and that's just not what it is. And why would that freak me out?"

"Because deep down you know that you are just as into him as he is you. You just have been so focused on the Will crap that it never had time to register." Tyra answered bluntly because that's what Tyra was: blunt.

"No. There just isn't any way. I'm not his type. I mean, have you seen his ex-girlfriend?" Emily shrugged her head and went inside the hospital. It was too cold to just stand around, but it wasn't long before was behind her again. She didn't say anything else until they made it into the locker room. (A/N: I guess that's what it is? I mean, it's a room full of lockers.)

"Yeah, you notice that part that came before girlfriend. You know, the one that's a letter of the alphabet. Ex! There's a reason that's there, and that happens to be that the good doctor has gotten a case of the Emily-fever."

"Pits-fever? Really? Which doctor?"

"Crap!" Emily exclaimed. "Cassandra! Next time, just a little bit of warning would be nice. You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Well, really I walked up right in front of you. You just didn't notice because you were super absorbed in your conversation. And if you were to have a heart attack, this would be a convenient spot, because it is right in front of a hospital. But which doctor?"

"Barnes,"

"Putnam! Putnam!" Emily yelled over Tyra, glaring, but then Cassandra was staring. "Dr. uh, Putnam does." she mumbled.

"And you're surprised? Putnam likes anything female."

"Did you just refer to me as 'anything'?" Emily asked, mildly offended.

Cassandra ignored her. "That explains why Will was so antsy yesterday. I thought he was just being weird, but I don't even like you and I don't want you to get anywhere near that."

"Antsy?" Emily asked, trying to not sound eager. She almost didn't even notice Tyra face-palm.

"Yeah, I asked him, but all he would say is that you were doing something really stupid. Putnam explains that."

_Stupid? Why would me being with Micah be stupid_?

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I want to be on time for rounds. You two stay here as long as you want, though." Cassandra smiled and walked off.

"Why didn't you want to let Cassandra know? She's not that chatty, if that's what you're worried about. And she's the girlfriend of your friend/unrequited love. That totally should remove her from 'nemesis' status and put her in the acquaintance range."

"For starters, it isn't true." Emily said, holding open the door for Tyra. "Even if it were, I don't want Cassandra thinking that any good thing that happens to me is because my resident is into me. Which he isn't."

"Fine let's play your game, Emily. He has no romantic feelings towards you and he has never once thought of getting cozy with you in that supply closet over there. Hypothetically, if he were to like you, how would you feel about that?" Tyra asked as they walked back out into the hallway.

"How would I feel about that?" Emily asked uncertainly, suddenly and inexplicably nervous. "Well-" Emily couldn't enlighten Tyra, because at that moment a very large doctor grabbed Emily and pushed her back into the empty changing room.

"Emily, you need to talk to me. Right now."

"Will," Emily said trying hard to sound casual.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped angrily. _Whoa. Will, chill._

"What? What did I do?"

"You're sleeping with Dr. Barnes!"

"Oh really? I was unaware. I'm glad you let me know, though, because who I am sleeping with is definitely important. Thanks for tipping me off." Emily said, trying to make a joke, but she was also a little bit irritated.

"Knock it off, Emily. Can you honestly tell me that you don't see anything wrong with sleeping with your resident?"

"Maybe if I were actually sleeping with him I would, but from where I'm standing right now, it's not that bad. We're adults and there's no rule that says we couldn't. Thank you for the judgement though."

"Emily, don't be like that! How am I supposed to know you're not sleeping together after he kisses you in front of everyone?"

"It was in front of you and Tyra, and I feel like if you really wanted to know if I was sleeping with someone you could be like, 'Hey Emily, are you and that guy together?' Why do you care, anyway?" Emily yelled, now completely frustrated.

"W-what?"

"Why. Do. You. Care."

"We're friends. You cared when I wanted to date Cassandra."

"That's crap and you know it. I was upset then because she's horrible, Will! You know as well as I do that Micah Barnes is an amazing doctor and a phenomenal human being. Now we're late for rounds! Thank you! As if Dr. Bandari didn't hate me enough!" Emily yelled as she stormed off.

...

"Dr. Owens and Dr. Collins, just because Dr. Bandari is out of town doesn't mean that you two can slack off. You've already missed the presentation." Micah barked, irritated at them for being late and disrespectful, and irritated at himself for being jealous that she came in with him. And why exactly did she look so flustered?

"Can someone give me the treatment?"

"Emily, what's up? You look really...angry." he could hear Tyra attempting to whisper.

"I'm fine. What's up with this patient?"

"Who cares? It's Kopelson's patient. What did Will say? Was he jealous?"

"Ladies!" Micah shouted. "Owens, are you seriously chatting after you already came in late?"

"Sorry, Dr. Barnes."

"Hey, guys, what's up? I'm in a hospital and there are twenty strangers standing over me. I feel like I've had this nightmare before. Also, someone should add that I like long walks and Mexican food to my chart." the loopy patient was a young girl suffering from a severe allergic reaction to something no one could seem to identify, which meant allergy testing. It was probably one of the simplest things that they could have covered in rounds, but Bandari had made it clear that she didn't want him messing up her students with any complicated cases.

"This is also what happens when under heavy medication. Sorry, we'll be out of here soon. If I don't hear the answer soon, some lucky nurses are getting a break from bed pan cleaning."

It was going to be a long day.

...

"Okay Emily. We're on lunch and there is no one around. Tell me what happened with Will." Tyra ordered before either of them had sat down on the roof.

"He freaked out. He was yelling at me, and it sounded like he thought I was just sleeping around."

"So he was jealous? Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yeah, but...no. I didn't realize that him being jealous meant that he only cared when he thought that I might end up with someone else. It's okay for him to be with someone else, but not for me? That kind of jealousy is just selfish."

"Holy crap, you've finally realized it. The make him jealous tactic only works when both parties are single. Or if you know that if the other person would be willing to dump their girlfriend. Otherwise someone just ends up feeling like a jerk."

"You knew that would happen and you didn't tell me?" Emily asked Tyra, annoyed.

"I didn't tell you? Oops."

* * *

**P.S. I love everyone that got the reference in Chapter 2!**


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